Congratulations to Millions contributor Lydia Kiesling whose thoughtful essay “Proust’s Arabesk: The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk” was named a finalist for the 3quarksdaily Arts & Literature Prize. And thanks to all the Millions readers who voted for our essays in the first round of the contest.
Congrats Lydia!
Pulling Out the Stops for Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue
Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue (as seen in our Book Preview; and excerpted here) is due to hit shelves early September, and everybody seems pretty excited about it. How excited? Well, the book will come with an “enhanced e-book” replete with multimedia features, and the publishers have also decided to create a pop-up version of Brokeland Records, one of the novel’s main settings.
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The Story Behind Penguin Modern Classics’ Iconic Cover Designs
Henry Eliot provides an essential guide to the Penguin Modern Classics series, which has showcased key works in literature for the past 60 years.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Frangello; Theroux; Alameddine; Antopol; Minor; Schaffert
New this week: A Life in Men by Gina Frangello; Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux; An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine; The UnAmericans by Molly Antopol; Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor; and The Swan Gondola by Timothy Schaffert.
Do you have a little bit of writerly blood thirst?
On June 7th Canteen is hosting a battle in NYC’s KGB Bar. The event is called Outwrite and will pit Matthew Aaron Goodman, author of Hold Love Strong, against twelve two unknown volunteers in a flash writing competition. Alexander Chee will be reading from his new novel while the contestants prepare their weapons. This would make a great #LitBeat, and if you’re interested in covering this, get in touch with me here.
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Ruin-Reading
Junot Díaz is at home discussing his native Hispaniola as he muses on the function of apocalypse – New Orleans, Haiti, and Japan – in our global media landscape.
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More on Leslie Jamison
Leslie Jamison’s new essay collection is getting lots of plaudits, not least here at The Millions, where Ryan Teitman argued that Jamison manages to “meet her subjects in utter intimacy.” At the Tin House blog, Stephen Sparks interviews Jamison, who talks about the book, her “shame-seeking superpower” and her epigraph-cum-tattoo.
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